After a season with Boston University, the Edmonton Oilers drafted defenseman Jim Ennis with their sixth choice in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. Ennis, who was a hometown boy, born in Edmonton, Alberta on July 10, 1967, spent one more year with Boston U before turning professional with the Oilers American Hockey League farm team in Cape Breton.

He played 59 games for Cape Breton but also made it up to Edmonton to play five games with the Oilers in his rookie season of pro hockey. Ennis scored one goal in his five-game stint.

Ennis spent the next year, 1988-89, on the farm playing with Cape Breton. Just before his third pro season was about to start, the Oilers traded him to the Hartford Whalers for fellow defenseman Norm MacIver. Ennis, unable to crack the Whalers lineup in training camp reported to their farm team in Binghamton, New York. After scoring three goals and 15 points in 69 games for the Binghamton Whalers, Ennis retired.